Who Takes the Blame?
by Sieg15
Summary: Sequel to "I'll Take the Blame". As Tear tells everyone of last night's conversation with Luke, the others begin to ask, "Who takes the Blame?"


So yeah. Its only taken a year plus to get around to it but I finally have a sequel to my story "I'll take the Blame". Actually, this one wasn't really easy to write. I knew what I wanted to do with the sequel but this wasn't it. I dunno. Somehow I just felt it made sense to write the group's conversation before Luke joins them for breakfast. Anywho, this is how it goes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss.

Who Takes the Blame?

(Guy's POV)

When I woke up that morning, I could feel that something was off. I couldn't describe it at the time. Something just felt weird, like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. So, I guess that's when Tear called all of us, except for Luke, for a meeting before breakfast, I wasn't too surprised. We all met up in the dining area before Luke got there. When we sat down, I would have never guessed what she would have to say next.

"He keeps blaming himself," Tear said, not looking at any of us.

"Huh? What do you mean? Who's blaming themselves for something," Anise was the first to ask.

I couldn't put my finger on it either at the time. Tear seemed like she was struggling to find the words to say whatever it is she wanted to say.

"Last night, I left my room to get something. I passed by Luke's room. He sounded like he was up so I listened through the door," Tear started to shake by this point. "He kept saying how he should take the blame. How it was his fault for Akzeriuth. How he could and should take the blame for being a replica. And how he is the only one to blame."

To be honest, I wasn't that shocked at what Tear was saying. I felt kind of relieved to see Luke was taking responsibility for his actions. He was growing up after all. It was good to hear how he was taking responsibility for his...actions... And how it was...how it...it...it was...his fault...

Damn. I get it...how could I have been so stupid?

Natalia, however, sighed in relief. "So that's all? Luke's blaming himself? Why is that of a major concern? Luke was at fault for not using his hyper-resonance responsibly," Natalia pointed out.

"Yeah. Luke should've known better. He's only right for him to blame himself," Anise said while nodding.

"But it's not right! It's not right for him alone to take all the blame!" Tear stood up from her chair, fighting back almost.

"What do you mean by that?" Natalia...She still didn't get it.

They really don't get it do they...

Jade's face turned solemn. He turned to me. "So Guy, you must've figured out the meaning behind Tear's reaction. Do you care to explain to us?"

*sigh * Always having me doing the explanations, even now. I looked up at Natalia and Anise. "I think what Tear is trying to get at is how Luke took the blame for it all."

"Ugh. I get that but what do you mean by that anyway?" Anise scratched her head in annoyance. "We got it. We got it. Luke took the blame. We got that-"

"No, you don't," I stopped Anise. "What she means is how none of us took responsibility for it nor did we blame Van at all. Right, Tear?"

Tear nodded. "Yes. That's right. We all just put the blame on him. We even used it as a constant reminder to keep him in line."

"But that was to make sure he didn't do something stupid like that again right?" Anise leaned forward on the table.

"Yes. But using that as a reminder made it to where Luke hasn't gone a day without thinking about the events of Akzeriuth and what followed afterward," Jade words comanded everyone's attention. He turned his head down slightly, the sun shining off his glasses kept his eyes hidden. "Every night, I hear his screams. Every time we have to fight and kill others, he stay's up. He can't find solace in sleep because he's unable to shake the images of those people out of his mind."

"And all we do is remind him to remember everything," Tear added in. "We never really took our own blame for the situation either. We just pushed our frustrations on him."

"That's correct, Tear," Jade continued, "I will, however, admit that we had a chance to stop him. We all knew of his loyalty to Van yet we never really took it into account how far he would go for him."

"But Luke was the one to used his hyper-resonance to destroy Akzeriuth. How could we have stopped him? We were too busy helping the townspeople." Anise argued.

"Yes, that's right. There were people that were in need of our help. We had no time to watch after Luke," Natalia agreed. "We didn't even have any clue that Luke would go that far for Van."

"Now now, Princess. Its not good to lie," Jade gave a grin at Natalia. "I may be getting old but my hearing isn't all that bad. You knew Luke was planning to do something with Van. Its why he let you join us in the first place. Not to mention, we all knew Luke would do anything for Van's praise. You had a better idea of it more than anyone else."

Natalia pouted. She really couldn't say anything else. She heard Luke praise Van many times over the years. Of course she knew.

"But still-," Anise started to prove her point again but was stopped by Jade.

"Anise, you're a soldier correct?" Jade asked. Anise nodded yes. "If an enemy killed your friend, who would you blame? Would blame the person who killed them or the weapon he killed them with?"

"I would blame the person, of course!" Anise yelled out. "But what does this have to-"

"So assuming Luke is the weapon, who would you say wielded the weapon?"

"Van. But...oh" Anise stopped herself. It finally clicked.

I turned to Natalia. Her hand covered her mouth. She finally got it too.

"Now, seeing as how we knew the enemy who would kill our friend, would we stop the weapon or the person using said weapon?" Jade pressed on.

"...the person..." Anise weakly answered, no longer able to look at us.

"Exactly," Jade's eyes turned dim. I think even he was beginning to find the implications hard to swallow. "We, however, blamed the weapon, not the man who used it."

"We blamed Luke," Tear finally said it. "We put the pressure on Luke. Van wasn't there. And in the time when Luke needed us, we weren't there. We made him prove to us his loyalty. We made him do it by reliving his nightmare. By killing even more people."

The table turned silent. That's how Luke found us only moments later.

"Good morning everyone," Luke said with a smile as he walked towards the table.

I could barely look at him with feeling ashamed.

"Luke I," Natalia didn't finish her sentence. She just looked down.

It took all my strength to look at Luke. "Luke, did we really do something that horrible to you?"

My emotions were everywhere. I was scared. Of what? Perhaps of losing his trust? His friendship? I don't know. Maybe all it. I know, however, that I hadn't felt like this since, since...since we left him...after Akzeriuth...by himself.

Luke just turned to me and smiled with a hand behind his head. "What are you talking about Guy?" Luke took his seat and grabbed a menu. "C'mon! Let's eat! I'm starving over here!"

Luke kept smiling. He kept smiling. He always kept smiling.

…I'm such a fool...

And that's the end of this chapter. This is probably only going to be short story, probably two or three chapters long. Right now its leaning on only two chapters. I probably made Guy realize the problem too easily but I think he would. Anise and Natalia wouldn't. Anise because she's still young and Natalia because I think she may be too naïve to understand it. And of course if Guy understood the problem, so would Jade. Anywho, I do plan on updating in a while. Please leave reviews. It's the #1 source of food for authors!...next to pizza...


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